Google is making a move from traditional to conventional, from outdated to updated. In the seminar room, you will be given a brief explanation on how google is trying to help schools take on a fresh new way in delivering education to the new generation. First of all you will be introduced to the Chromebooks/tablets, and later on the google education apps used in these Chrombooks/tablets. After the session is over, you can head over the to main hall and try out these devices for yourself hands-on. So first and foremost, what is a Chromebook? A Chromebook is a fast, cheap and portable laptop running Chrome OS as its operating system. The devices are primarily designed to be used while connected to the internet. Everything is performed on a browser, known as google chrome, and over the cloud. There are no programmes, everything is initiated through apps which you download through the app store on the browser, and then actions are performed through it. What you primarily need to use all these apps or so to speak, the laptop, is a google account. Why use chromebooks for classrooms? They are affordable, starting from $259, which all educational apps pre-installed. They are easy to manage, the chromebook boots up in less than 8 seconds, that’s less time than it takes to make a paper aeroplane! If they are in sleep mode, they resume working immediately. They are also perfect for sharing, a single device can be shared amongst students but still they can get a more personal experience by signing in with their google account. It comes with wifi, and optional 3G, allowing chromebooks to connect to the web, anytime, anywhere. Since they are built around a web browser, everything is stored online. Students and teachers alike can log onto any machine t access their e-mail, documents and personal settings, so there is no more excuses for missing or incomplete homework! Chromebooks make it easy to provide each student with their own computer. Schools can manage an entire fleet of chromebooks, with just a few click. Teachers can configure and manage computers and user accounts via a web based console, they can also which web apps and extensions students can use. Integrated security provides multiple layers of protection that defends computers and the entire network from malware and viruses. The chromebook features a variety of google apps for education which help the student as well as the teacher. But what are google apps for education? They are a large bunch of powerful applications and services! They are all web-based, meaning no installation needed and accessible anywhere through the web, all you need is a google account. The core apps include Gmail, Google Drive and Google classroom. The Google Drive app lets you store any type of file online. For schools, the first 30 GB is free, and the rest paid. From pictures to videos to documents to programmes, Google Drive lets you store it all. Since it works on the cloud, you can access these files anywhere and anytime as long as you have an internet connection and have Google Drive installed (from school, home, smart phone, etc). Another useful option about the Google Drive is that you are not the only one who can access the file you uploaded. You can set to who can see and open and even edit the uploaded file. Teachers for example can upload the homework for their classroom and enable them to download it. Or a student can upload his homework and only enable his teacher to open and mark it. Google drive is home to Google Docs, Slides and Sheets, productivity apps for an office suite, offering collaborative editing on documents, presentations, drawings, spreadsheets, graphs and more. You can import existing word/excel/powerpoint files or make completely new ones. You can even export the files you make in popular formats including PDF, Doc, XLS and PPT. The best part about these three apps is the easy ability to share them with others, whether it be a document, presentation or spreadsheet, you have the ability to edit and share it in real time. A student may be doing his homework from his home and the teacher may be invigilating him from her house. This can prove extremely useful for a whole classroom. For example the teacher can proof read and correct a group essay while the students are watching her do it real time. Google Docs, Slides and Spreadsheets are powerful word processing, multi media slide show and spreadsheet programmes, respectively. Can work almost any formula, add scripts and have built-in research feature. Google Docs can be used to give students notes, write letters to students’ parents and other staff members. The Google spreadsheet can be used to keep student accounts, share student grades and other relevant information. And lastly, Google Slides can be used be make a collaborative multimedia group presentation and interactive stories. Obviously, there are many many other uses for these three apps, we leave it up to the schools to them to their fullest! Gmail is a free e-mail service. Basically you can send and receive e-mails, create an address book and perform other basic email tasks. It offers some unique features to make it stand out from other e-mail services and also making it one of the most popular ones around. The most prominent thing about Gmail is that it is integrated with Google Drive. What files you make or upload on Google Drive can be immediately sent to another e-mail from Gmail. If you are tired of all the typing, you can even voice/video chat with one or group voice/video chat with many other recipients. Another feature in Gmail is the ability to call another recipient, it is similar to voice chat, except you are calling an actual phone number anywhere in the world. Calls in the US and Canada are free, while calls to any other country are there for relatively low costs! Lastly, we move on to Google Classroom. Teachers can now create and collect paperless assignments with ease! Why should your school use Google Classroom? Well because it’s easy to learn! With very little to no training required, Google Classroom provides a clean, intuitive design that helps keep work organized for students. It is a simple way of creating a paperless classroom. Communication with students is enhanced; students can learn on their own pace and not feel shy in asking questions. User friendly with students as well as teachers, students can immediately get assignments and grade while teachers and immediately assign homework, see who has or hasn’t done this homework and even grade it and provide feedback in real-time. It’s simple to set-up, teachers can add students directly into a classroom, or the student can directly join the class with a unique code given to the teacher to share with the students. End of the day, it really saves time, the hustle and bustle of paperwork, giving and receiving assignments can be hassle. There’s even a risk of losing them! But not with Google Classroom, since it is fully integrated with Google Drive and G-mail, it is impossible to lose any work, whether you are a teacher or a student., since everything goes up in the cloud. From the teachers’ perspective, you can create and customize a new classroom. Adding and removing students is just a click away! Ability to make a Google document for each student, send individual or class assignment via Google Drive, make announcements, check assignment details, who has submitted the assignment and who hasn’t, grading and returning of assignments and much more! From the students’ perspective, you can easily access any assignment, contact the teacher and ask her for help or check your assignment in real time. All the assignments would be in an assignments page, easy to see and easy to use design. Students can provide answers and share resources with each other in real time. At the end of the day, chromebooks for education enable schools to be more efficient in terms of classroom time, IT resources, and technology budget, which ultimately leads to happy students, teachers and parents!